Shadows of the Leaf
by Iashpac18
Summary: All his friends turned there back on him, and no one will talk to him, but when Naruto finds someone who will stay true to him, he begins to feel happy again. But will one person be enough to make him stay in the village?
1. Avoidance

Naruto felt terrible. Not only did he fail to save his best friend from the hands of the evil Orochimaru, but now it seemed like most of his friends were acting oddly towards him. It had already been a week since the mission and Naruto was already healed and was "Released" from the hospital. Everyone else that was on the mission with him were all alive and well. Shikamaru and Kiba were all fully recovered and were cleared for release, but Choji and Neji were still recovering since there injuries were the worst of all.

But it wasn't just his friends that were acting strange; whenever he would walk down the street, people would give him these strange looks, but the worst part of it was that these looks he was getting from people, were the same he received when he was younger, looks that said: "Why are you here?" or "you're a disgrace." He had seen Sakura and the rest of his friends a few times around and had tried to talk to them, but every time they would either give him an excuse as to why they couldn't stay and talk or just brush him off without saying a word. It was starting to get irritating, between nobody wanting to talk to him and all the other villagers giving him hateful looks, it was like a repeat of his early childhood, and it made Naruto sad. And a little scared.

'I don't understand what's going on with people lately, ever since we got back from that mission last week, everyone's been acting weird towards me', Naruto thought as he made his way down the street towards his house.

As he walked past a restaurant he heard voices coming from inside, and he happened to overhear someone his name.

"Did you hear about Naruto?"

"No, what about him?"

"A week ago, he went to go save that Uchiha kid who had left the village but when he got back, the Uchiha wasn't with him. But it turns out that while he was with Sasuke, Naruto supposedly began to transform into the Nine-Tails, if he can't control the demon, then I don't think he should be in this village."

Naruto was traumatized 'That's why everyone's been acting hateful towards me? It just like it was years ago; everyone's been looking at me with disdain because they think I'll transform into the Nine-Tails?'

"Well fine, they can think that if they want, I'm gonna go train so I can get stronger using my own strength, then I'm gonna get Sasuke back and show them I'm not the Kyuubi." He states as he takes off towards the training field.

When he arrives at the training field, Naruto finds it empty, which was perfect. He always preferred to train alone. He began with some warmup stretches and then started his favorite training routine, making his signature hand sign.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He yelled as 100 clones filled the training ground, and then began to fight each other; all the time he was fighting he couldn't escape the lingering depression growing in the back of his mind, could they really think that about him? He couldn't help how the fight turned out, he couldn't have known that Sasuke would be taken over by Orochimaru's curse. But no matter, he gained the villagers respect once, he could do it again.

After about an hour of training Naruto decided to take a break, so he found a tree he could sit under while he drank some water. He couldn't help but be worried about what his friends had to say about him, and he dreaded when that time would come. As he sat there thinking, he sensed a presence approaching, he had hoped that no one would show up there, whoever it was, Naruto knew what was coming when they saw him. As he sat there bracing himself for what was about to happen, he heard a soft voice,

"N-Naruto?"

He jumped and shot his gaze in the direction the voice had come from. He saw standing there, a girl with indigo hair and a cream colored jacket, looking at him with a blush on her face.

"Huh, Hinata? What are you doing here?"

"W-Well I was just c-coming here to train, but I didn't expect to s-see you here."

He started to feel happy that she didn't say anything mean, but quickly snapped back to his earlier thoughts,

"Did you come here to call me a demon to?"

Hinata felt a little hurt by his question, but decided to push on as best she could.

"No, of course not, why would I ever think that about you?

"Because that's the way everyone else thinks of me, everyone says it's because I fought using the Nine-Tails power on our mission to retrieve Sasuke, so now I guess they think I'm the fox itself. I don't blame them though, all my life I've been ridiculed because of this thing inside me, and I've tried my hardest to change people's opinion of me, by showing them I'm just as human as everyone else."

"You shouldn't think like that Naruto, you are not the fox and you never will be. Who cares what people say? I believe you're not the kind of person to get discouraged by others' words, instead, you've always been the type of person to prove people wrong. Peoples' opinions don't define who you are, only you can do that."

Naruto was shocked, he had expected to find scorn from her like he did from everyone else, but to actually be esteemed was definitely a surprise. "Thank you Hinata, you don't know how much I needed to hear that." Before she could respond, Naruto leaned forward and hugged her, Hinata's face turned beet red, but even through the surprise she hugged him back.

"D-don't mention it N-Naruto, I'm…glad I could help."

"You know, that's the second time you've brought me out of depression, you always know just what to say. I mean, I was ready to give up, but now I feel so much better, you're the best."

Hinata's blush intensified "I…I didn't really do anything, it's all because you're such an amazing person N-Naruto."

"That's not true, you've always been there for me. You really are a true friend."

Hinata had to focus all her willpower to not pass out, she's never been this bold around Naruto before. 'What do I do? I want to tell him. I've got to do it, now or never.'

"Um, Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

I…I need to…to tell you something."

"Sure Hinata. What's up?"

I…I...I really…like you, Naruto. I have for a long time"

Surprised at her sudden act of courage. "I like you too Hinata."

"Naruto, I mean I like you as in…I-I want to be with you" she stumbled. Keeping her eyes focused on the ground. It was all or nothing.

Nodding his head, with light pink on his face. "I know that's what you meant, and I feel the same way about you."

Surprised was an overwhelming understatement for what Hinata felt right now. "You…do?"

"Of course, to be honest, I've felt that way about you for a while, but I could never figure out the best way to tell you."

"B…But If so then why did you always…"

"…Chase after Sakura? I really don't know, I don't like her in that way, she always felt like more of a sister to me. So I guess it was because she liked Sasuke, and I didn't want to lose to him…" Looking down with a sad look. "But now he's not here anymore." Looking back up at Hinata with one of his signature grins. "I like you in the real way Hinata. Although I'm surprised you felt the same way for so long. I guess that explains why you were always the only one who didn't hate me."

Hinata was in tears. And all she could do was jump forward and throw her arms around him. "I could never hate you Naruto."


	2. A Date to Remember

It had been a week since Naruto and Hinata's confessions at the training field. And after that, they would frequently meet up to train or just talk. Even though it seemed that the whole village wanted nothing to do with him, it hardly mattered because the one person he really cared about, couldn't wait to see him.

Walking down the street towards the Hyuga compound, Naruto was deep in thought.

'It's been a week since the training field and we've met up a few times since then, and I guess you could call them dates but I want to do something special for her.'

By the time he got to his destination, he had an idea in mind. Knocking on the door, he did a quick transformation in case anyone but Hinata answered, because they both knew, no one in the Hyuga family would ever accept this. Fortunately it was her who answered.

"Hey Hinata." Spoke Naruto, as he poofed back to normal.

"Naruto. Hi" She responded in a cheerful tone.

Before he said anything else, he leaned forward and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. Putting her hand where she had been kissed, Hinata's face grew red. "What was that for?"

Flashing a cheery grin "No reason, I just came by to ask you a question"

"What is it?"

"Do you want to go out with me?"

"You mean like…a date?"

Nodding his head. "Yeah."

Giving a sincere smile. "Oh Naruto. I'd love to."

"Great! Does Friday sound alright?

"That sounds wonderful"

"Awesome." As he started to walk away he winked at her and waved goodbye. "I'll see you then."

"WHAT?! Are you sure?" Tsunade exclaimed dropping the scroll she had just need handed onto the desk in from of her.

"I'm afraid so, my lady" Shizune responded with a bow. "We will follow up on this to make sure it's not a bluff, but if it's not, I'd hate to see what effect this will have on Naruto"

"For his sake it had better be a bluff, because if it's not…" She cut off, clenching her fist. "…It will be a very bad day for Naruto Uzumaki."

It was Friday afternoon in Konoha, and Naruto was getting ready for his first real date with Hinata. He had taken a shower, and put on some nice clothes, instead of his normal orange pants and jacket. Instead, he wore an orange polo shirt with black pants, a black jacket, and his ninja shoes, he had also conjured and sent out a few clones to set everything up. After he made sure he was ready to go, he set off towards the Hyuga complex.

As he was walking down the streets of Konoha, he was on his way to go pick up Hinata for their date; but he was lost in thought. 'People give me hateful glares because of this stupid fox, and if I'm seen with Hinata, then I'm sure they'll give her the same treatment, I really don't want to do that to her.'

Deep in thought as he walked, he accidentally walked into a man. When Naruto looked up to see he saw a man glaring at him. "Watch where you're going, filthy demon." The man sneered as he walked away.

Without responding, Naruto looked around to see that he was standing in front of where he was headed.

Doing a quick transformation, he knocked on the door. When it opened, he saw a beautiful sight. There stood Hinata in a lavender colored dress, light blue leggings and a pair of normal shinobi shoes.

'Wow, she's really pretty without her baggy coat on'

"Hello Hinata, you look really pretty." Naruto spoke, releasing his transformation.

"Thank you, you look nice to Naruto" She responded, with a light blush on her cheeks. "So where do you want to go?"

Before he answered, he remembered his previous thoughts. "Hinata, I have something to tell you."

"Okay, what is it?" she asked nervously.

"I know people aren't really accepting of me right now, and I'd hate to drag you into that, so if you don't want to go out with me, I understand."

Walking up and putting her arms around his waist. "Don't worry about that, the only thing that matters to me is how much I want to be with you, so if they have things to say to me, then so be it."

Naruto didn't know what to say. He was so sure that the threat of dislike from the villagers would have driven Hinata away, but it was the opposite. "Aare you sure?"

Nodding her head. They went on their way. Unaware of the figure watching from above.

In the Hokage office, Tsunade stood, facing the window deep in thought. When a knock at her door jolted her from her thoughts.

"Enter." She stated, sitting back in her chair.

The door opened and a man in Anbu armor and a mask walked in. "Lady Tsunade, We have located Naruto Uzumaki."

"And?"

"He appears to be on a date, with the Hyuga girl."

"You mean Hinata?"

"Yes Ma'am"

"Hmm."

"Shall we retrieve him now?"

No not yet, I'll let him enjoy the rest of his evening."

As they walked down the street, they didn't talk but there was no need, they were simply enjoying each other's company. It was only about 4:00 in the afternoon, so they had all day; But after a few minutes of walking Hinata spoke up.

"So, where to?"

"Huh? Oh yeah. I had an idea for a few things we could do, but that's a surprise." Grabbing her hand in his, he took off towards Konoha Park. Hinata grew flustered when Naruto grabbed her hand, but she enjoyed in nonetheless. When they reached their destination, they were greeted with what Naruto had sent his clones to prepare earlier, spread out on the grass was a picnic, nothing fancy but that hardly mattered.

"Naruto, you didn't have to do this."

Giving her one of his famous smiles. "I wanted our first official date to be special. So I had my clones get this ready ahead of time."

"Thank you Naruto, this was very kind of you."

"No problem, now let's eat."

After they were finished and packed up, the sun was starting to go down.

"It's getting late Naruto, maybe we should be getting back."

Looking up at the sky, Naruto pondered for a second. "Not yet, I have one more idea first."

Hinata grew curious about what else he had in store, but she didn't really care, as long as she got to spend more time with him. "Ok what is it?"

"Follow me." Grabbing her hand in his, he took off towards the Hokage Mountain. Holding Naruto's hand made her feel so safe, and she loved it.

Once they were at the top, he let go and walked over to the edge and sat down, he then looked back at Hinata and patted the space beside him on the ground, signaling her to sit, which she did without hesitation.

"Whenever I'm bored or need a place to think, I come up here and watch the sunset." And Hinata could understand why. From up at the top of the mountain you could see the entirety of the village and a perfect view of the sunset. It was beautiful and she was having the time of her life.

After a minute, Hinata risked a bold move and laid her head on Naruto's shoulder. Which surprised him a little at first, but when he looked over at her and saw her looking back at him with a soft blush on her face and a dreamy look in her eyes, he relaxed and laid his head on hers, putting an arm around her and pulling her closer towards him. And there they stayed for a while until the sun had fully gone below the horizon.

Looking down at Hinata sitting next to him. "Hey, you alright?"  
Looking back at him, and giving a slight shiver, "I'm perfect, thanks to you Naruto."

"To me? I didn't really do anything." He responded, taking off his jacket and draping it over her shoulders.

"Not true Naruto. I wouldn't be where I am now if not for you."

Putting his hand over hers. "I could say the same thing to you."

Naruto, with his arm still around her, began pulling her closer and closer to him, cupped her chin in his hand, tilted his head, bent down, closed his eyes and leaned in, her lips were soft and sweet when they made contact. Eyes going wide with shock, she jumped a little. 'Naruto's actually kissing me!?' But after a second, she closed her eyes and relaxed into it. After about a minute. Naruto began poking at her mouth with his tongue, asking for permission to enter, which Hinata granted without hesitation. Tongues dancing back and forth with such an intense kiss, both were in pure bliss. She had no idea how Naruto learned how to kiss like that, or how she knew, for that matter, so she just followed his lead until they broke apart for air. When they separated, they were both out of breath.

Naruto stood up and held out his hand to her, which she took and he pulled her up.

"We should get going, it's getting pretty late, and I don't want you to get in trouble with your father"

Smiling warmly to Naruto, she followed him down.

As they started their trip back, Naruto grabbed her hand and this time interlaced their fingers together as they walked back to the Hyuga compound.

Once they reached the door, they turned to face each other.

"I had a wonderful time tonight Naruto." Hinata said with a pink blush across her face.

"Me to. Can I ask you something?"

"Of course"

"Exactly how long have you liked me?"

"I think it started back at the academy, I always found your unyielding determination inspirational, and ever since then I've wanted to just be able to walk up to you and talk with you, but I was always too shy."

Naruto felt bad, all this time he was being hated by the village, he was ignoring the one person who didn't.

"I'm sorry"

Confused. "Sorry? For what?"

"All this time you've felt that way about me and I didn't do a single thing about it, I'm such a jerk."

"No you're not Naruto, and don't worry about it, we are together now and that's all that matters to me."

All Naruto could do was wrap her up in his arms and hold her close. He leaned closer down to her ear and whispered. "I love you, Hinata."

Overcome by shock, she stepped back, "W-what?"

"I said, I love you."

Hinata was speechless. Tears began forming in her eyes and rolling down her cheek. And she clamped onto him as hard as she could.

"I never thought I'd hear those words. I love you to Naruto, with all my heart."

Returning her embrace, he put his arms around her waist. Looking her in the eye and leaning forward, the couple shared another tender kiss.

Breaking apart after a couple minutes. They walked to the door. "Goodnight Hinata"

"Goodnight Naruto"

"Do you want to do something tomorrow?"

"Like what?"

"Go to lunch and see where the day leads us?"

"Sounds wonderful"

"Great, see you then."

And with that they exchanged a wave. And as Hinata went in and closed the door, Naruto began his way back home, ready for the next day.


	3. When All Falls Apart

The next morning, Naruto awoke feeling great. Not only had he found someone who still thought of him how they always did, but that person was also his girlfriend.

After getting up, he took a quick shower and got dressed; once he was ready for the day, Naruto took a walk around the village. He learned to ignore the glares of the villagers. And as a blessing to Naruto, he found that the owner of the ramen shop would still serve him, so he decided to stop in for a quick bowl (or five) of ramen, before he started his training later.

"Hey old man, can I get one bowl of the usual?"

"Sure thing Naruto, coming right up."

"Thanks."

After he was ate his fill, Naruto paid for his order and then went on his way towards the training ground. As he was walking down a side street, Naruto sensed chakra around him, looking up on the rooftops around him he saw at least ten Anbu black-ops, surrounding him.

"W-what's this about?" he asked half panicked.

The one who seemed to be the leader spoke up. "Naruto Uzumaki, you're under arrest."

"W-What! Why!?"

At this point he heard someone approach from the rooftop behind him, turning around he saw a blonde woman with two pony-tails, wearing a green jacket. "G-Grandma Tsunade!? What's this about?"

"Naruto, you are under arrest for murder." She coldly responded.

"Murder? What are you talking about? I didn't kill anyone!"

"On the contrary, you are under arrest for the murder…of Sasuke Uchiha."

Eyes growing wide from complete shock. "Sasuke? He isn't dead?"

"When you fought him at Final Valley" said a familiar voice. Turning around, he discovered it to be Shikamaru, and behind him, he saw Neji, Kiba, Choji, and Sakura; along with Lee and Ino.

"You guys? What are you doing here?"

It was Sakura who stepped forward and spoke first. "How could you? How could you DO THIS!?"

"I…I didn't mean..."

It was Neji who spoke next. "It was our mission to capture Sasuke, not kill him."

I know that…I would never…"

Then Kiba. "Was your rivalry with him so important, that you would go that far?"

"You guys can't be serious about this, that can't be true." Choked Naruto, tears streaming down his face.

Naruto heard a poof. "It's true Naruto" Looking up, he saw Kakashi standing beside Tsunade.

"We received Intel that following your battle; Sasuke succumbed to his wounds shortly after reaching the sound village."

"Enough talk!" Yelled Tsunade. "Naruto, come quietly or we will use force to make you come with us."

At that; Tsunade, Kakashi, all the Anbu, and all of his friends, got into battle stances.

'They have to be lying about Sasuke, and they're all going to turn on me? I knew something was up. But are my friends, am I really there enemy now?'

"It isn't true, it's not true, it's not true." Naruto repeated quietly. Dropping to his knees, he felt the anger and sadness start to bubble up inside of him.

"You're all lying to me, there's no way Sasuke is dead!" and with that, Naruto turned and began running away from the group, crossing his fingers, "Shadow clone Jutsu!" he yelled as a hundred clones dispersed into the village.

"After him!" Tsunade ordered as everyone took off after Naruto.

Naruto ran and ran through the village, mind a blur as he tried to process what had just happened. Was Sasuke really dead? As he continued his evasion through the village, he hoped that his clones were enough to fool them, but he did have Neji's Byakugan to worry about. After about an hour, he had found a place to hide, he would wait for nightfall, then leave the village.

Once it was dark, he went to his house to get some things that he would need, once he had all that he needed, he took one last look at his house and left.

Looking around to make sure the coast was clear, when he made sure no one was tailing him, he took off towards the village wall.

But before he got to the wall, he turned his direction towards the Hyuga compound. Even if everyone hated him, he had to see her one more time.

It was late when Naruto snuck in and Hinata was already asleep. He had climbed in her window and silently crept his way over to her, shaking her gently.

"Hinata, wake up." He whispered

"Hmm? Naruto? Is this a dream?" She asking sleepily, sitting up is her bed.

"No, I'm sorry to wake you so late but I wanted to see you before I left."

"Left? Are you going on a mission?"

"No I…" He didn't want to tell her, now that he had found someone who loved him and vice versa, he didn't want to leave that, but he just had to hold out until he saw her again. "…I'm leaving the village."

"What? Why? What happened?"

"…Supposedly, when we went on our mission to retrieve Sasuke when he left, they say I…they say I killed him. I don't know how I could have, but now the whole village is after me, so I have to go."

Tears began filling Hinata's eyes, it wasn't fair she had just got together with the person she has loved more than anything, and now the village's accusations are splitting them apart.

Seeing her cry, Naruto sat on the bed beside her and wrapped her in a tight hug, which she immediately returned. "It'll be alright, we'll definitely see each other again."

Looking up at him with teary eyes, "Promise?"

"I promise, and you know me, I never go back on my word."

Wiping the tears from her eyes, "I know."

Putting a hand on my cheek, "I love you Hinata, never forget that."

Putting her hand on his, "I love you to."

Pulling her close to him he leaned over and kissed her, which surprised her at first but she then relaxed into it, giving off a low moan.

Pulling away, too soon for her. Naruto stood up, and reached into his pocket,

"Close your eyes."

"What?"

"Close your eyes for a second."

"Ok." When she did she felt something cold go around her neck, opening her eyes she saw a silver chain with a charm on it, upon closer inspection of it she found that it was a locket, opening it, she saw a picture of the two of them that they took on their second date.

"Oh Naruto it's beautiful, but how did you get this?"

"Hehe I've been saving up my money for a while, in case I needed it and when I saw that in a window I thought you'd like it.

"I love it, thank you"

"Your welcome" he responded with a bright smile.

Afterwards he gave her another quick kiss and walked over to the window he had come in, and leapt out of it. After he was gone, Hinata sat there looking at the spot he was standing in for a few minutes.

'Please Naruto, come back to me soon.'

After leaving Hinata's room, Naruto made it to the top of the village wall. He made sure to pick a spot with no one guarding it.

"This place has done nothing but cause me trouble anyway" after giving one last glance at the village, "forget this place", he scoffed, as he leapt off into the forest.


	4. A New Beginning

As Naruto leapt through the trees away from the village, he wondered if they would send anyone to chase after him, or if they would be happy to be rid of him and not bother; either way he didn't care. There was only two things that Naruto cared about: His poor girlfriend he had left behind in the village. He missed her already, but he knew they would eventually see each other again; and his vengeance on the leaf village for driving him out and accusing him of something he had no control over. So as far as he was concerned, his old home would pay, dearly. After about an hour of travel through the forest, Naruto came across a clearing, it looked as though there was no one around so he decided this would be a good enough place as any to camp for the night.

The morning after Naruto's departure, Hinata had woken up early, as she lay in her bed all she could think of was Naruto.

'Naruto, I hope you come back soon.'

Deciding it was best to get her mind off it, Hinata got up, took a shower, got dressed and went for a walk around the village until it was time to go train with her team.

While she was on her walk, she ran into a couple of your friends, Sakura and Ino who were walking around chatting. And when they say Hinata they waved her over.

"Hey, Hinata long time no see."

Walking over to them, "Yes, it's good to see you."

Both their faces turn serious, "So Hinata. Did you hear about Naruto?"

Feigning confusion, "No, what happened."

Bursting out loud, "That no good demon, killed my precious Sasuke-kun." Ino yells.

Hearing Ino's insult to Naruto, made her a little mad. She already heard from him the night he left what the village had said happened, but to hear this from the people who were supposed to be his friends, Hinata didn't know what to think.

Turning to Sakura, "Is that the way you feel too Sakura?"

Looking away for a minute, then turning back with tears running down her face. "Yes, I never want to see that bastard again."

Not wanting to hear anymore, Hinata spoke up, a little louder than normal. "What gives you the right to say such things about him? Naruto is, in no way, a demon and how dare you say that about someone who is supposed to be your friend."

"After what he did? Why do you still care so much?"

"Because I love him, and people shouldn't be saying such heinous things about him, after all he's done for this village." After she was finished, Hinata turned away from them and started walking in the other direction, leaving the two girls shocked and a little irritated.

After she was a good distance away from where they were. Hinata was shocked, never had she ever been that bold, let alone enough to argue back to people.

Naruto woke up feeling groggy, remembering what had happened the day before. What was he going to do? He had nowhere to go, but one thing was for certain, he had to find a way to make the Hidden Leaf pay.

After waking up, Naruto packed up his belongings and continued on his way. Walking in no particular direction, Naruto was deep in thought, 'What am I going to do now, I need some help if I'm going to accomplish my new goal, but who?'

Brought out of his thoughts by the sensation of powerful chakra in front of him, he pulled out a kunai and jumped back, looking up in a nearby tree he saw two individuals standing on a high branch, one was fairly tall with black hair, and the other was a lot taller than the first, and had a giant bandaged sword on his back, but the one thing these two had in common was there cloaks: black with red clouds.

"Itachi Uchiha…and Kisame? You two again?"

"Don't be alarmed Naruto, we did not come here to fight you, we just want to talk." Itachi spoke.

"If so, then what do you want with me?" Naruto responded, still on guard.

"We know what happened in the village yesterday, and we know that you abandoned the village."

"Yeah, and what of it? You going to criticize me?"

"No, in fact we come with a proposal."

"A proposal? What is it?"

"You are a rogue ninja with nowhere to go, and we've seen what incredible power you possess. Join us, and take vengeance on the people who wronged you."

Shocked by the surprising turn of events, Naruto thought for a minute.

'This is exactly what I needed to achieve my goal'

"Hehe, alright, I accept your offer.

"Very well Naruto. Come with us."

Following the two rogue ninja, Naruto had a sly grin on his face. 'This is perfect, hehehe.'

After about an hour of silent travel they came upon a steep cliff.

"So, why are we stopping?" Naruto questioned.

"Hold on a minute." Retorted Kisame. As Itachi walked up to the side of the cliff, after performing a few hand signs, a portion of the Cliffside began to crack and crumble away, leaving what looked like the entrance to a hallway.

"This is our hideout, it's here that you'll meet the other members of our organization." Informed Kisame, as he and Naruto followed Itachi inside.

Inside was a long hallway that seemed to go on forever, but when they finally reached the end, it turned into a large, dark room. When they entered Naruto looked around the room for anything but it was too dark to see anything.

"Welcome, Naruto Uzumaki, we have been expecting you." An ominous voice rang out from the darkness.

"W-who's there?"

Torches lighting up the room revealed the presence of a larger group of people. Naruto counted six more people in the room.

"We have all gathered here to welcome you, as our newest member." Spoke itachi walking towards the group. "I am the leader of the Akatsuki, so from now on you receive your orders from me, understood?"

"I understand." Responded Naruto.

"Good, now I'll introduce you, you already know me and Kisame. Deidara:"

A blonde man with his hair in a high ponytail stepped forward, "That's me, don't wear it out, hmm"

"Sasori" A younger looking man with red hair stepped up, "Don't annoy me, or ill add you to my collection."

"Hidan" A man with silver hair and a large triple-bladed scythe came into view, "I must provide more sacrifices for Lord Jashin."

"Kakuzu" A masked man stepped forward. "…"

"Nagato" A skinny man with straight red hair came up. "It is my mission to find true peace."

"And Konan" A woman with blue hair followed suit. "Greetings Naruto Uzumaki."

"For the next two years we will each be helping to train you, and when you are ready, we will begin our work." Instructed Itachi, pulling out a kunai.

"What are you doing?"

"Let me see your headband?"

"What for?" Naruto responded, taking his forehead protector off and handing it to Itachi.

"Hold on." he answered as he put a scratch through his hidden leaf headband.

"There, all of your ties to the hidden leaf have now been severed." Itachi said returning it to Naruto.


	5. Reunion

_(Time skip two years ahead. Everyone is, as they were in Shippuden.)_

It had been about two years since Naruto's departure from the hidden leaf, and since then, the village has been functioning as usual. Everyone went about their lives as they would normally, everyone seemed to either forget about, or just not care about Naruto Uzumaki; all except for one person:

In her room, Hinata sat by her window, looking out at the village, a hand clasped around the necklace Naruto had given her, ever since he left, not a day went by that she didn't think of him, wonder when he would be back, hope he was ok, and that she would she him soon.

A knock at her door, brought her out of her deep thought, "Enter." The door opens and reveals a side branch Hyuga man. "Lady Hinata, you have been summoned by Lady Hokage, she has a mission for you"

"Thank you."

Giving a quick bow, the man walked away. Hinata stood up and left for the Hokage's office. Once she arrived she entered and noticed that Sakura, Shikamaru, and Lee were also in attendance. Once Hinata and everyone was in the office, Tsunade spoke.

"I have a mission for the four of you that is of the utmost importance. We have reason to believe that the Akatsuki have been hiding out in an area around a small town far west of the village, I'm sending you all to go there and investigate, we have a somewhat general idea of the area in which it could be in but it's a pretty vast area, Shikamaru, you will be leading this mission."

"What a drag." He huffed in his usual tone

"Alright, get what you all need and be gone in thirty minutes."

Hinata was the first one to the gate, so she sat on a bench and waited for the others, 'Maybe we'll run into Naruto somewhere along the way.'

After another five ten minutes, Sakura showed up, "Hey Hinata."

"Hello Sakura."

After a minute of silence, Sakura spoke up, "Listen, about Naruto…"

"Yes, what about him."

"I don't know how you can still like someone who did what he did, but that's not my place to question, I just wanted to say I'm sorry if it offended you."

"It's alright…what do you think will happen if he ever comes back to the village?"

"Who knows, lock him up or something, of course for what everyone thinks about him now, the villagers may demand his head."

Seeing the frightened look on Hinata's face. "They probably won't take it that far, though."

That got Hinata thinking. What if it did come to that and Naruto had to leave again, for good this time? How would she handle that?

Shortly after the rest of the group showed up, and they all took to the trees, making their way toward their destination.

"So Shikamaru, how are we going to pull off this mission?" Sakura asked.

"We'll split up in two teams of two, and cover the area piece by piece, Sakura, you'll be with me. And Hinata, you'll go with Lee."

"Understood." They responded in unison, as they split into their individual teams.

"Let's go."

"Right."

As the cliff side entrance opens, two shadowy figures appear from the darkness.

One was Itachi Uchiha, leader of the Akatsuki.

Next to him stood Naruto Uzumaki, wearing an Akatsuki cloak, and carrying a sword sheathed on his back. Naruto looked pretty much the same as he always had, except his hair was somewhat longer and what was normally a soft friendly expression, was replaced with a hard, cold glare.

Leaping off into the trees, Naruto felt a familiar presence nearby.

"Do you sense that?" He asked.

"I do, it feels like…leaf ninja. What are they doing way out here?" Itachi responded

"Who knows, what should we do about them?"

"It feels like there are about four of them, and they have split evenly into two groups"

"Should we intercept them?"

"Yes, we can't risk them pocking around so close to base. I'll take the team going north, you take the other one."

"Understood" Naruto replied, as they split up.

As Hinata and Lee leapt through the trees, she kept a close eye on her surroundings with the Byakugan, searching for the hideout. Part of her was hoping they wouldn't run into trouble, but the other part wanted to see if they knew anything about Naruto. So for better or for worse she kept watch, but when she spotted a person in a tree ahead of them, she knew they were immensely powerful.

"Wait a second." She called out to Lee.

"What is it?"

"There's a powerful presence ahead"

Steeping out from behind the tree, Itachi stood there, looking at them through his Sharingan eyes. "You did very well to find me. But what else can you expect from the Hyuga."

"I-Itachi…Uchiha?" they both said.

"Would I be correct in saying that you all are here to investigate us? Well I hate to tell you, you won't find anything of worth here. And as for the other two of your squad, my partner is taking care of them"

"We don't believe you." Lee stated getting into a battle stance.

"If you insist." And with one swift movement Itachi vanished.

"What? Where did he go?"

Without warning a voice came from behind them. "Don't let your enemy get behind you."

Turning around, Lee saw Itachi standing behind him, but before he could do anything, He received a strong kick in the stomach that flung him into a nearby tree.

"Lee!"

"That was a strong kick, but I'm alright." The taijutsu master said, standing up.

"Your strong, but how about this:" Pulling out some shuriken, and throwing them towards the two, he weaved some signs, "Fire style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu" The flames coated the shuriken and flew towards them. Hinata jumped in from of Lee, "Protective 8 trigrams 64 palms" as she moved her arms in circles around her, what seemed like a net of chakra surrounded her and repelled the shuriken. After all the shuriken were gone, lee leapt forward and delivered a spinning kick to Itachi, which sent him off the branch he was standing on.

Jumping back up onto the branch, Itachi stood still, looking at them, they both decided to attack him at the same time, lee delivered a punch and Hinata threw a palm strike. To which Itachi countered both by catching their hands in a strong grasp and held on. They then noticed that Itachi's form began to change.

'Shadow clone explosion'

The clone then exploded, blowing them both to the ground, after struggling to get up, they noticed the real one standing in front of them.

"I think playtime is over. Mangekyo Sharingan: Tsukuyomi" Having been caught under the genjutsu. Lee and Hinata fell unconscious.

Shikamaru and Sakura were quickly making their way to the designated search area.

"Do you think this mission has anything to do with Naruto?" Sakura asked

"Who knows, if so, there's not much we can do about it" He answered

Face turning to anger "If we see him, ill finish him off myself, I'll still never forgive him for what he did to Sasuke."

"Aww, all these years and you still haven't forgotten about me Sakura." Said a voice hidden in the leaves.

They both stopped in their tracks, frozen by that voice. The voice was very familiar to them, but it seemed different somehow. Looking for the voice they were barely able to dodge shuriken being hurled at them.

"W-who's there?" Spoke Sakura, pulling out a knife and looking around desperately for the owner.

"What's the matter, you guys, didn't expect to see me here?" Said the voice as it gradually grew closer.

Turning around to find the voice, Sakura and Shikamaru, were both frozen with shock.

Standing above them in trees, was their old friend, and Sakura's old teammate: Naruto Uzumaki.

"N-Naruto? Is it really you?" Asked Sakura in a mix of anger and shock.

"Yes, now what are you leaf ninja doing out here? Snooping around?"

Both were surprised by his remark, until they realized he was wearing the cloak of the Akatsuki.

Shikamaru spoke up, "Naruto, you're in the Akatsuki!?"

"Noticed that did you?"

"Why would you do something like that?" Sakura questioned.

"As if you of all people need to ask me a question that foolish, I joined them because of you and all the other pricks at the hidden leaf accusing me of killing Sasuke."

"But you did!"

"No matter. Whether that's true or not, the leaf village will be destroyed."

Overwhelmed by Naruto's outrageous goal, Sakura leapt up after him, charging as much power into her punch as she could.

'With the strength I gained from lady Tsunade, I'll take him down no problem.' She thought.

"Is that it?" He said, simply catching her punch in his hand.

"What!? How did you do that, I had enough power in that punch to split the ground."

You won't believe how much stronger I've gotten in my two years with the Akatsuki. Going through a short series of hand signs and ending with his famous "+" sign. "Ninja art: Phantom Clone Jutsu" Appearing out of thin air, the two were surrounded by a pack of six clones.

"This is nothing." Swinging a punch at one, her fist went right through it. "What? What is this?"

"My phantom clone Jutsu is similar to shadow clones, but with two distinct differences: one, you can't touch them; and two," Weaving a couple more signs, Shikamaru was hit by a slash from a kunai. "They can hit you, hahaha"

The clones began running around them, "Try to keep up"

Throwing down a smoke pellet, they hid in the trees. "What do we do Shikamaru?" Sakura asked half panicked.

"I don't know, how do we defeat something that is intangible? Normally the way is to defeat the caster, but we can't with the phantoms protecting him. Looking down at the group of phantom clones, Shikamaru noticed that the original was holding his hands together in a Jutsu sign.

"I've got an idea, but I'll need you to distract them for me." Shikamaru said, readying his Jutsu.

"Got it." She agreed.

Naruto was looking around, looking for his old friends, when three shuriken came out of the trees, he had one of his clones deflect them away. Afterwards Sakura came of out the trees, and began running towards them.

"A frontal attack? Oh please, you insult me." Naruto sneered, as two of his clones attacked her, only to have her be replaced by a log.

"Now that's more like it" Sensing her chakra coming from behind, he made his phantoms, cut her off from an attack, resulting in another substitution.

"Is this really how far you can go against me?"

After about four or five attempts, Naruto was getting irritated.

"Come on, this is getting ridiculous, if you can't win, then just give up alre….What!?" He shouted, as he could no longer move his body. Stepping out of the leaves, was Shikamaru.

"Shadow possession jutsu complete" he stated as he was linked to Naruto. "Now to test my theory. As he pulled his hands apart, Naruto did the same, and as expected, the phantoms disappeared.

"Hehe, as clever as always, you had me focus on Sakura's wild attacks so that I wouldn't notice the shadow creeping up on me."

"Now that we have you, you're going to tell us what you and the other Akatsuki are planning." Sakura demanded.

"Oh am I? I hate to break it to you, but you won't be getting anything from me." Before anything else could be said, a smoke bomb exploded in between the two parties, causing the shadow possession to be nullified. Appearing on a higher branch stood Itachi. With Lee and Hinata in his grasp. Throwing them down to Sakura and Shikamaru. The two rushed over to their fallen comrades.

"And before you start, they are only in a genjutsu, it'll wear off in about an hour, and so in the meantime, I suggest you leave while you still can." Itachi stated with a hint of malice.

"You're letting us go?" Sakura asked surprised.

"Only so you may take a message to the Hokage. Tell her that the Akatsuki will remake the world, and when we do, make sure your village is ready for it."

Standing behind Itachi as he talked, Naruto watched his old friends, he then looked at the two under a genjutsu. One was Rock Lee, and the other was…

'Is-is that…Hinata?'

Jumping down to the ground, near the leaf group, Naruto kneeled down beside her.

Itachi, noticing what Naruto was doing, "What are you doing Naruto?"

"Just give me a minute please. Trust me." He stated calmly, putting up a barrier that allowed no one else to hear their conversation.

Reaching down and putting a hand on hers, "Release"

Jolting awake, Hinata looked up, "N-Naruto, is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me sweetheart. Im sorry it's been such a long time."

"It's ok, im just happy I finally get to see you again." She said with tears in her eyes.

"So am I, I missed you"

"I missed you to" She said still a bit dazed from the genjutsu, looking over she saw what he was wearing, "Naruto, why are you wearing that?"

Shocked out of her daze, "An Akatsuki cloak? Naruto why are you…?"

"Because I hate the village for what it did, and for how they labeled me."

"What about me, I thought you said you would come back to me, was that just a lie!?"

"No, of course not, if there is one thing that hasn't changed about me, it's that I never break promises."

"Then what was your plan for that!?" Hinata shouted.

"I wanted to take you away from the village, I hate how they criticize what they don't understand, and I hate how they will slander anyone who comes into contact with the "Demon fox child. I saw how they gave you the same treatment they gave me, just because you hung around me. You didn't deserve any of that."

"Naruto, you've always been a sweet person, and you know, it's not like I haven't thought about leaving."

"What?" Naruto said, surprised.

"Ever since that night you left, I've regretted not going with you, you're the best thing that has ever happened to me in my whole life, and I hated to see you go. And now that I find you and discover your part of the Akatsuki, I can understand what brought you to this point, looking back now, there's really nothing there for me. And after all this, I've decided, that where ever you are, is where I want to be."

Brought almost to tears, Naruto knew that what she said was the truth, wanting so badly to kiss her right now, he knew he couldn't because of the circumstances.

"Whenever we go to the hidden leaf, I'll find you, alright?"

"Alright."

"Great, I think it's about time we were on our way, I think we've kept everyone waiting long enough."

Hinata nods and Naruto lets down the barrier. Both leaping back to their respective group, "Until next time"

Each party turns and takes off in opposite directions. Naruto and Hinata exchange one more glance at each other.


	6. Tensions Rising

Naruto and Itachi began their way back to the hideout. Naruto wanted to talk to him about something and decided that now was the best time.

"Itachi?" He said.  
"Hmm?" Itachi responded, looking back.

"Have you heard about…Sasuke?"

"Yes, I have. And I had a feeling it might turn out this way."

"What do you mean?"

"Sasuke was always a loose cannon, I knew that one day his power lust would drive him to his death."

"How do you feel?"

"Don't get me wrong, he was my little brother after all, I feel sorrow about what happened, but things like this happen, as shinobi we must get through it."

"Oh…I see"

After they got back and entered the hideout. Itachi called everyone and addressed the Akatsuki as a whole.

"Our goal has always been to remake the world, but recent complications are now keeping us from attaining that goal, so in light of this, I'll need a few of us to head to the leaf village."

"The leaf village? What could we possibly have to do there?" Hidan chimed in.

"…We are going to show them that they are no match for us." Itachi responded. Everyone seemed surprised.

"It's about time, those pesky ninja are always getting in the way, hmm." Deidara added.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with what happened to your little brother, would it?" Kisame asked.

"…."

"The point is, I know what the leaf is like, and they will do anything they can to stop us. So something must be done." Naruto exclaimed.

How do you feel about this: Naruto; Itachi; can you bring yourselves to take part in an act against of your home village? Konan asked.

"This is fine by me, I'll gladly show them all the mistake they've made." Naruto replied.

"Any objections to this?" Itachi questioned. No one said anything.

"Then it settled." Everyone nodded.

* * *

Hinata and the others were on route back to the village and Hinata was lost in thought, a lot had happened in the past hour, and Hinata was having some trouble processing it: not only had she found Naruto again, but he was now a part of the Akatsuki; was she really going to betray her home village…just for Naruto? Looking back on her life in the leaf: remembering everyone bullying her when she was little, people at school and even her family did it. Naruto was the only person that truly made her feel safe and wanted, and she couldn't leave that behind, no matter what. So there was no doubt in her mind that when Naruto came back to the village, she would go with him.

* * *

Tsunade sat at her desk buried in a stack of paperwork when there was a knock on the door.

"Enter."

The door opened to reveal a man with long white hair, carrying a scroll on his back.

"Jiraiya? What are you doing here? I wasn't expecting you today."

"I had a question for you?" He stated plainly.

"Another date request? I've told you before, I'm much too busy." She responded, putting down her papers.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR DAMN MIND!?" He loudly shouted. Slamming a fist on the desk.

Shocked by the sudden exclamation. "W-what are you talking about?"

"I do my research into the Akatsuki as I always do, and during one of my investigations, I overhear a conversation about a new blonde headed member that recently joined from Konoha. And the rumor has it that he was pursued and labeled a criminal by the Hokage. Care to explain?" He explained, sitting in one of the chairs.

"I did what I had to do. It pains me as much as it does anyone else that knew Naruto. But to kill a fellow leaf ninja, is something that, as the Hokage, I cannot condone for anyone."

"Kill a leaf ninja? Who was it?"

"During the mission to rescue Sasuke, Naruto went overboard and Sasuke had succumb to his wounds shortly after reaching the Sound Village."

"What are you talking about? The Uchiha kid isn't dead." Jiraiya stated simply.

"Excuse me!" Tsunade tensed.

Sighing and standing up from his seat. "In addition to Akatsuki, I've also been keeping tabs on our old friend Orochimaru, and I saw him in the flesh without a scratch on him."

Leaning forward in her seat. "When was this and where at!?"

"It was about a week ago in the forests near the coast of the land of waves" He stated matter-of-factly.

Jumping up from her seat. "SHIZUNE!"

The door bursts open "Y-yes milady?"

"Bring Kakashi, Sakura, Neji, Hinata, Shikamaru, and Kiba here immediately!"

"At once milady."

Fifteen minutes later all of them were standing in the Hokage office awaiting orders.

"I have a mission for you all that is of the utmost importance, and none of you are to breathe a word of this outside this office, am I clear?"

Everyone gave a nod so she continued. "Surveillance from Jiraiya claims that Sasuke Uchiha may in fact still be alive." Tsunade noticed that everyone tensed especially Sakura.

"I now this is a delicate subject for you two." Looking towards the last two members of team 7.

"But your individual skills are needed for the dangers you could likely face." They gave a nod again. "Jiraiya will be coming with you and will be leading this mission." Looking towards Jiraiya "You can fill them in on the rest on the way there. Now be packed and gone in the next 20 minutes, understand? Dismissed!"

A/N: It's a little shorter and sorry for all the talking, but the next one will be better.


End file.
